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CCGaDay Day 14: Best convention purchase

Submitted by Allen on Sun, 09/14/2014 - 00:00

I'm going to have to stretch the definition of "convention" a bit here, since I'm not really one for big conventions. And the last (OK, *only*) big convention I went to, I didn't even buy any CCGs. So you're stuck with this story instead.

Regionals for our neighborhood stayed in Calgary, even though I ended up running them (apparently my loss - detailed yesterday - was substantial enough to guarantee me Running Rights). The event stayed in Calgary because the Sentry Box is there, and it's easily the largest gaming/geek store in either city. While Edmonton has dozens of small- to medium- sized gaming stores, Calgary only has three or four, and the Sentry Box is the largest, and has enough gaming space to handle large events. (We had 30-40 people for Regionals, and maybe took up half their gaming space).

Now, as any TD will tell you, when you're running an event, you're in basically one of three gears.
1. Start and end of rounds, where you run around collecting scores, figuring out the rankings, and setting up the next round, trying to do it as fast as possible because you're trying not to fall behind schedule but you were behind schedule the moment you started because these things never start on time in the first place. Between finishing the round and starting the next, figure 10-15 minutes of every hour.
2. Answering random rules questions as various playgroups discover they've been doing things wrong. Only a minute or two per incident, but it's like having random pop quizzes thrown at you all day - just quick adrenaline rushes.
3. Abject boredom, while you sit and try not to hover over any given table too long. And this year we had the even number, so there was no bye player to chat with.

So, during a particularly boring spot (possibly a snack break), I head downstairs to the retail area (the gaming space is on the second floor, as a kind of balcony/mezzanine thing), and look to see if there's a new RPG book or something to buy and read to pass the time. And I notice a new CCG on the shelf. And it's mentioned that it supports solo play. Well, I've got a few hours of sitting on my arse ahead of me, so I pick up a starter to see what's up, and spend the rest of the day happily learning the game between rounds.

The basic precept is simple - take your Tomb Raider, work through the dungeon (avoiding traps, finding tools and loot, killing monsters) until you find the treasure room, and then get the heck out. Normally you can have multiple players and you play the various traps on each other. In single-player mode, you basically use your trap deck on yourself (and if I recall, put yourself on a timer of some sort).

The game was very light, and borrowed ideas from the video game. Dying just meant resetting to your last "save point" square (and included items!), and you used dice for resolution. They had a bunch of different starting characters (and obviously a bunch of versions of Lara), plus a leveling mechanic. I don't feel that it ever really caught on, and I think it's because it played like a "box set" game. (Just another LCG before it's time, I suppose).